Perkins Eastman unveils master plan for Shandong University

The Shanghai office of international design and architecture firm Perkins Eastman joins Shandong Design Institute to announce the completion of a constructible master plan for the new Qingdao branch campus of Shandong University (SDU). Groundbreaking for the 500-acre campus is scheduled for late 2011 with project completion estimated in 2016. The 12.9 million square-foot of buildings are to be constructed in a single phase.

Shandong University’s new campus for 25,000 students is situated on the Yellow Sea overlooking Aoshan Bay near the city of Qingdao. The campus is designed to expand Shandong University’s international presence by providing world-class teaching, living, and research and development facilities. An International Conference Center will provide a first-rate destination for international cooperation and sharing of information. A theater and museum will serve as resources for the local Qingdao community, and will house within a permanent collection the History of SDU from its birth as a Christian College in 1901 to its current status as a distinguished institution for higher learning.

Chairman and CEO Bradford Perkins FAIA says of the new plan, “The original master plan for the Shandong University Medical School at Qilu, China, was designed by my grandfather Dwight Heald Perkins in 1904. It is a fitting tribute and incredibly satisfying to be a part of the future of this world-class institution.”

The campus design combines traditional and modern campus planning, landscape, and architectural features and is organized around major and minor axes. The buildings of the academic quads are typically four stories with pedestrian arcades in order to create a pedestrian-friendly environment with a walk-able scale. Residential buildings vary in height from three to six stories with integrated student centers and dining facilities--something new to Chinese university campuses. The student centers will create an environment to foster nontraditional learning through the employment of a state-of-the-art technological infrastructure that will be linked to the traditional learning centers contained within the academic quads and library.

From a sustainability perspective, the roofs of the buildings of the south campus housing were designed to accommodate solar panels. Buildings will be cooled and heated through the employment of ground source heat pumps supplying chilled water to individual fan coil units. Tidal power generation also will be used as a supplementary system. There will be a grey water treatment plant that will supply water for site irrigation and toilet flushing. Large constructed wetlands planted with native vegetation will be used for storm water management and beach and wildlife conservation. A massive green roof covers one level of below-grade parking for 1,500 cars at the main entry. BD+C